Valve's new Steam Deck update doesn't promise much, but classic Call of Duty games could see some real performance gains

Ever thought of reliving the early days of the Call of Duty boon by firing up the original Call of Duty Black Ops on your Steam Deck? Chances are, you’ve quickly put that idea to bed after finding out that it’s a hitch-filled mess. Turns out you’re not alone. Lucky for you, if the latest SteamOS beta build is anything to go by, older Call of Duty games could see a huge performance boost. And the benefits aren’t limited to the classic FPS franchise, either. Theoretically, anyway.

So what’s the reason for this renewed interest in bringing Captain Price on a long train journey? A little something called ntsync. The major (and really only) feature of the January 8 SteamOS beta update added kernel-level support for this super special driver that’s been known to boost performance of Windows games on Linux –  the base of functionality for not only the Steam Deck, but the forthcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame hardware. Exciting times indeed.

Now, before you get too giddy thinking this is some hail-mary for Windows-based mimicry on Linux, let’s slow down a little. While ntsync has been known to offer up huge performance gains in some versions of Linux, SteamOS already supports fsync –  a driver that offers much of what ntsync brings to the table. But that doesn’t mean ntsync can’t bring some slight improvements, such as for some older games that don’t play nicely with fsync. While much of the online discussion has revolved around problematic games in the Call of Duty franchise, there’s little reason why ntsync can’t help other games released on PC around that same era.

As someone with a vague interest in tinkering with these sorts of things, I grabbed my Steam Deck to put these hopes and dreams to the test. As best I could, anyway. I still occasionally fire up the original version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on my PC for some retro (ouch) manic multiplayer mayhem without all the dolphin diving and wall running. Proper boots on the ground stuff, you know? And while getting said multiplayer component working on my Steam Deck would have taken hours I simply do not have on a working Sunday, I did take the time to play through a little of the campaign to see if I could notice any huge differences. And were they huge? Well, no. But that doesn’t mean dashed dreams just yet.

Turns out Call of Duty 4 works just fine on the Steam Deck already. Hitting the refresh cap on the Steam Deck OLED is a given. But by unlocking the frame rate, I did see some minor improvements when running Proton GE (ntsync) – a required distinction given the beta nature of the update thus far – versus the readily available Proton branch that should still be running fsync.

Unplugged from its charger, loading into the catwalk checkpoint of the Crew Expendable mission saw the Gamescope overlay FPS reading range from 130-140 on the current fsync build, while switching to the supposedly ntsync-forcing Proton-GE fork saw it hover more reliably around the 135-144 range.

Is it enough to proclaim victory over a stuttery mess of prior Call of Duty runs reported by other players? Again, no. And I’m not the PCGamesN hardware team, so take my rudimentary testing with a gargantuan heap of salt. But if you’re into hooking your Deck up to a 144Hz panel for super-smooth runs of the F.N.G. training mission, maybe you’ll appreciate the potential minor boon.

Over on the Steam Deck subreddit, though, user ‘Sjknight413’ reports that previously observable “horrendous framerate drops” and “glitchy or pitch black” objects in Call of Duty Black Ops using fsync are a thing of the past on this new Proton-GE/ntsync combo. So if there’s an older Windows game you’ve had trouble running on your Steam Deck, it might be worth spending a lazy Sunday giving this handy new solution a go. All you need to do is opt in for the SteamOS 3.7.20 beta branch and install the latest Proton-GE version via the Proton Up-Qt app in the Discover store. It’s just a couple of clicks – promise.

Not feeling it? Once said beta branch rolls out to the masses, expect plenty of benchmarks to pop up around the web. Me? I’m just excited to practice my fruit-killing skills on the go. Sure, they’re already “remarkable,” but they do say becoming an expert in anything takes 10,000 hours.